Nola turns 4 and Brenner continues to improve at Cross Country

Crazy, super busy week! We had Nola's birthday, went to a PTO color walk, and cheered Brenner on at another XC meet.

 Brenner didn't have school on Monday so Papa took them to the park. They had a ball!

 Nola getting her birthday present - at about 5:45 am! Think we could convince her to eat breakfast?! Brenner bought (with his own money) an Elsa doll - she fit perfectly in the doll house.

 Look at that smile!

 Nola's buddy Morgan came over for a play date on her birthday after the girls wrapped up preschool. Nola chose lunch at McDonalds.

 They had a fun time inside.....

 ...and outside!

 I made cupcakes for Nola's preschool birthday party. We had to save one for Brenner.

 On Friday, Grandma Val, Grammy Vo, and PawPaw Floyd came to grandparent's day at Brenner's school. Fun times. Grandma Val stayed for the PTO color walk. It was a fun time! But I should have read up on the actual color prior to Brenner getting it into his hair :)

 Morgan was there too! Check out the dads in the background :)

 Brenner really got into it!

 Shall we call him pink face?!

 The color really stays in the hair. I found out there are whole webpages devoted on how to remove this stuff. I tried baking powder, ketchup, but I think time will be the real winner on this one......

I thought you all might be interested in seeing the course that Brenner ran this past week. His age group runs a 2K (orange route).

 Before the actual race, the runners do a walk through. The meet this week was here at home. We had some pretty good hills as you can see in this picture.

 Our boys before the race!

 And they are off!

 Brenner making it down the hill from the previous picture (yes I got my workout racing around to get pictures!).

 Concentrating back up the hill before jumping across the ditch.

Brenner led a small pack of teammates the entire race...yes - led them this race! His goals this race were to beat his time from last week (11:40) and Xander and Mabry (the two blue runners behind him).

Brenner reaching the finish line - with a time of 10:44 seconds! Mabry and him really pushed each other. Brenner  trimmed 56 seconds off his time from last week and Mabry cut 30 seconds off of her time.

 A hug from Papa after the performance. Grandma Val was also there to cheer him on!

 Brenner was excited to see his time. I started a couple seconds late so this timer has 10:42!

The Flyers did great - 2 second places, one 4th place, and one 5th place. Brenner ended up in 6th place - one shy of a medal!!!! He is doing great. As his coach said "He may be little but he is very strong and quick." That really shows in this picture - his teammates have such longer strides but he kicks it in high gear to keep on improving!

 One Sunday, Brenner wanted to make cookies and chose gingerbread men. Why not even if it is September :) They also had the thoughtful idea to take some to our neighbor.

 Fun worksheet that Brenner and PawPaw Floyd filled out at Grandparent's Day.

 Brenner continues to do well in school in comprehension.....

 ....and math as well.

Nola's class was learning that animals have families too!

Nola's 4th birthday party and the Fulton XC meet

Chalk up another busy one for the books! We had a full weekend celebrating Nola's birthday with family and friends a few days early and watching Brenner run in his 2nd cross country meet. Thank the Lord for some gorgeous weather! No school work update this week - I took the pictures but already had enough with the party and meet. Both kids are doing great. Brenner has been getting some special tasks from his teacher because he listens so well - way to go buddy!

 Nola's preschool class made silly shampoo and she was so excited to use it.

 Brenner, well, being Brenner. This little guy is full of energy!

 Nola posing with her birthday cake. She "accidentally" rubbed her arm in icing and was too busy licking it off to smile for the pic!

We for some Frozen balloons for her birthday. We had a full house with family and friends - what a blessing!

 The 4 year old table :) Nola with Cousin Eadlin and buddy Morgan.

 She had plenty of help opening her gift. In fast, they tore through them so quickly that I had to call/text people afterwards to make sure I knew who gave what to her!

 Nola can rock a cowgirl hat! Morgan and her family gave this to her. Uncle Chuck - what do you think?!

 Blowing out the candles with her wings and wand, with some help from a princess and another fairy!

 Licking the icing off the candles is a must. Morgan is reaching for a candy pearl. Little gobblers!

 It got really quiet for a few minutes!

 The aftermath of the cake - a 6-layer rainbow cake. I loved the way it turned out!

 Nola carrying Morgan's little sister around the yard. Elena was very patient with Nola!

 A wizard warrior was among us!

 We used window crayons on our back porch door for guest to leave Nola birthday messages!

 The kids were excited to open up the boxes from Aunt Theresa and Uncle Chuck!

 Nola got a leapster of her own!

 I thought this was hilarious. Nola was putting her new doctor kit to good use! It was a long day but we had a great time. Thanks to everyone for coming out and helping us celebrate our little girl!

 On Sunday afternoon, Brenner had his second XC meet. He looks so grown up! He had two goals - don't stop (at least keep walking) and beat his time from the first meet (13:46).

The CoCoMo Flyers pre-race. It was majorly delayed - we were suppose to start at 2 pm and the races didn't start until 3:15.....and they made the 6-8 year olds go last! Torture for little ones!

 The younger siblings were out in force to cheer on the team!

 The 6-8 year olds waiting patiently :)

 Snack time!

 A little bit of stretching and warmup prior to their races.

 Finally making it to the starting line.

 The boys are ready! The boy on the far right won the race. Notice that as the gun went off, his foot was already in the air. This team trains 5 days a week.....I just hope he enjoys himself!!!!!

 Brenner in the middle of the pack. Matt calls this "classic Brenner" turning his head to check behind him!

 Look at his focus!

 Check out his final time - Brenner beat his previous time by over 2 minutes. I was waiting at the finish line for him....when he rounded the corner to enter the track, Brenner's are were pumping and he was racing so hard. I about exploded with pride to see his determination. He was proud of himself as well. I asked how it felt to have everyone cheering for him - he said "distracted". Too funny! I will admit that I offered him some incentive to focus. Brenner really wants a mohawk, so I told him if he beat everyone on his team/age class, he could have a mohawk. He ended up finishing 4th on his team and is looking forward to the next meet to see if that mohawk can become a reality :)

One of his team mates took home 3rd in their class and Daylynn (Morgan's older sister) took home 5th in her age class. Great run, kiddos! We celebrated by going to Golden Corral to eat (the kids picked!). Brenner ate steak, potato, and gobs of dessert but he slept well!